Humans have been decorating their nipples from time immemorial by attaching decorative items or jewelry. A common attachment method is to pierce each nipple and then insert a thread in the pierced hole. However, few individuals today are willing to undergo such treatment just to wear jewelry. Moreover, there are few facilities where one can have nipples pierced safely. In addition, once the nipple is pierced, a retaining device has to be worn at all times since a nipple perforation can heal within twenty four hours if left open. Such retaining devices may not be desirable at certain times, and the danger of infection is another serious drawback. Furthermore, if the retaining device is a ring worn in the pierced nipple, the ring may get caught and cause serious harm to the wearer.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,625,526 discloses a nipple decoration device which is similar to an earring and includes a pair of opposing spring biased pads for engaging opposite sides of a nipple. In addition, all of the references cited in U.S. Pat. No. 4,625,426 relate to pressure pad earrings. The major disadvantage of this decorative device, which hangs from the nipple, is that the device relies on opposing pressure pads for attachment. However, the nipple, unlike the earlobe, can change considerably in size and consistency due to temperature, sexual excitation, etc. This may result in such a decorative device being inadvertently detached and lost. In addition, the opposing pressure pads would not likely be comfortable for the wearer.